… and on land

Archive for January, 2019

Got up early this morning (7.00am) to find that the Boudicca was docked in Colombo the
capital of Sri Lanka. We hadn’t been
here before, but our flight home wasn’t until teatime, so at least we’d have
some time to explore our 89th country, and indeed we had an
excursion booked after breakfast.

We had a good breakfast to set us up for what would be a
very long day; I enjoyed the full English washed down with coffee and orange
juice. We then made our way to the Neptune
to await the call for our excursion; we weren’t actually disembarking the ship
until after lunch, so we left our carry-on luggage in one of the meeting rooms
for safe keeping.

Our bus number was soon called and we went down the gangplank
to the bustling dockside, where there were a number of small shops and stalls
selling local handicrafts, scarves, pashminas and wood carvings, as well as
embroidered handbags and clothing. In addition,
every other shop seemed to be a Tea emporium because, after all, Sri Lanka used
to be known as Ceylon, and one of Ceylon’s most famous exports has to be tea.

Our bus slowly made its way through the traffic into the
city centre. We noticed that it appeared
to be a lot cleaner and less chaotic than Indian towns such as Delhi or Mumbai,
or Nepalese cities such as Kathmandu. However, there were also similarities in
their colourful shops, garish billboards and never-ending blare of traffic
horns.

There were also a lot of historic colonial buildings still
in evidence, from when Ceylon was under British rule. It gained its independence in 1948, and
changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.
We saw a 100-year old clock tower as well as the more modern Lotus Pearl
tower, and we passed the impressive Old Parliament Hall, before the bus pulled
up to allow us off for a photo stop.

We had arrived at the impressive Independence Square, a
large open-sided building held up with many carved pillars. You had to climb up
a series of steps, guarded at regular intervals by a series of stone lions,
into the building which afforded good views over manicured gardens and leafy
avenues. The weather was roasting hot,
and it was nice to take refuge from the sun in the shady building.

We continued on our way, and left the city behind as our bus
made its way along to the sea front, via a wide promenade which gave onto
golden sands. We also passed Buddhist
temples, mosques and churches and many colourful shops. All in all, Colombo looked a really
interesting place and would make me want to explore Sri Lanka more, maybe in a
longer stay in the future.

We arrived back at the docks around 11.30am, and spent some
time browsing the stalls and shops, although there was nothing we wanted to
buy. We then spotted John and Margaret
from our table; their bags were being loaded into a taxi as they were being
taken to a hotel for another three days, not flying home until Monday, lucky
things. We said our goodbyes and ‘safe
journey’ and all that, then made our way up the gangplank of the Boudicca to go and get something to eat
and drink.

We went into the Lido Lounge and enjoyed a couple of beers,
before heading for the Poolside Grill where we enjoyed a light lunch; I had a delicious
tuna steak with salad Niçoise, washed down with a couple of glasses of chilled cava
and finished with fresh fruits and cashew cream. We wouldn’t be getting another meal until we
were on the aeroplane home, so we made the most of it. 😊

Around 1.30pm our call came to disembark, so we collected our bags and went down to deck 3, where we despondently scanned our cruise cards for the last time and left the Boudicca. Then we had to go to the luggage collection point and identify our cases to be loaded onto the bus for the half-hour ride to the airport.

Colombo airport isn’t very big, so it didn’t take long to
check our cases in. Then we just
wandered around and looked in the duty free shops, where I bought a bottle of
the apple-scented “Be Delicious”, by DKNY.
We then just went to the departure lounge where we sat around and made
use of the free airport wifi, read magazines and relaxed, until we heard the
call for boarding the Thomas Cook charter flight to Manchester.

We took off on time, then had another 12-hour flight to get through. It was just the usual, incredibly tedious stuff – drinks, meal, reading, listening to my iPod, trying in vain to sleep. Boring. Boring. Boring. We watched the progress of our aircraft on the Sky Map, as it inched ever closer to Europe, across the North Sea, then into good old Blighty.

We landed slightly earlier than scheduled, around 23:50 hours. It was a bit of a shock to my flip-flop clad
feet leaving the aircraft into a temperature of 2˚C, a good 30 degrees less than
we’d had the last couple of weeks, but it didn’t take too long to get to the
arrivals building, where we collected our cases and phoned the Britannia Airport
Hotel, asking for the shuttle bus to come and collect us. While we were waiting, we saw Gary and
Angela, who live in Manchester and would be home within half an hour. At least we were staying here overnight,
otherwise it would have been nearer to 4.00am when we got home to Durham. ☹

Our taxi came and we arrived at the Britannia about
12:45am. Then we checked in and made our
way to our basic, but clean and comfortable, hotel room, where we thankfully
settled down to sleep.
In the morning we had the three-hour drive back
to Durham, which would herald the end of another wonderful, wonderful cruise holiday. Can’t wait for the next one! 😊

Felt really depressed that we were down to our final day on
the fabulous Boudicca. How the last fortnight had flown! ☹

Today we had a nice leisurely day at sea, with a packed
itinerary. We had a good breakfast in
the Secret Garden, then attended a talk at 9.45am by Roger Cook; this one was
called “Making a Killing” and was really quite distressing – it was all about
the illegal trade in exploiting wildlife, from the ivory trade, poaching tigers
and the dreadful ‘canned hunting’ where lions are drugged and shot at the rate
of around 8,000 a year. On one occasion,
I had to turn my chair round to avoid seeing footage of a lioness being killed
in front of her cubs. Dreadful, dreadful
stuff.

Afterwards we went to the Iceni room to have a cup of
coffee, before venturing out on deck.
We’d noticed that the ocean was a lot choppier today and, when we went
outside, a brisk wind was blowing, so much so that the bow area was roped off
to passengers.

We then went back to our stateroom (suite!!) and reluctantly
dragged the cases out from under the bed, to make a start with our packing,
putting away anything we wouldn’t be wearing or needing again this cruise. Then we went to the Four Seasons restaurant
in good time for lunch, as today they were holding the Grand Seafood Buffet.

The buffet was scrumptious.
There was fresh lobster, crab, prawns, mussels and cockles, all laid out
on beds of crushed ice. As a centrepiece
was a gleaming ice sculpture in the shape of a swordfish. I piled my plate high and we enjoyed a
deliciously-messy lunch, pulling the shells off with our fingers, for which the
waiter provided some bowls of water in which fresh lemon slices floated. We washed it all down with a chilled glass of
cava. 😊

At two o’clock I went down to the Atlantis Spa for an
eyebrow wax and a luxury manicure. The
lady took her time and did a really nice job; the manicure included a hand and
arm massage as well as a deep moisturising mask in a pair of heated mitts. I really enjoyed it, and my hands and nails
looked much better afterwards.

I then went straight from the spa to the Neptune Lounge to
meet Trevor there, as they were holding the Passenger Talent Show. There wasn’t much of a range of talent,
however, as they were all singers, of varying abilities, some of whom we’d seen
in the karaoke the other night.

The talent show was followed by the Boudicca Choir concert, and this was actually very good – I can see why joining a choir is a popular pastime these days. They sang a selection of popular songs, some in harmony, and in their big finale they sang the very appropriate The Fleet’s In Port Again. This last one was sung to a backdrop of film footage of all four Fred ships, the Balmoral, Boudicca, Black Watch and Braemar, all in port together in Cadiz last year. The footage looked fantastic and even quite moving with all four ships leaving port together, one after the other.

This was especially interesting to us, because we are already booked on the Balmoral for April 2020, when all four “Freds” will be together in Funchal, Madeira. It certainly looked as if we would be in for a treat, and I’ll be able to get some amazing photos of these lovely classic ships.

After the excellent choir concert we returned to our
stateroom (suite!!) to get showered and changed and ready for the Captain’s
Farewell Cocktail Party at half-past five.
It wasn’t a formal evening tonight, but I still made the effort to dress
up nicely, wearing a floaty black off the shoulder dress with silver polka dots,
and my Playboy Bunny shoes. When we went
into the Neptune Lounge to meet the Captain and his officers, Trevor thanked Captain
Sartela for such an excellent cruise, and we greeted and acknowledged each of
the officers, as well as the dance hosts.
One of the dance hosts, Vanessa, looked at my outfit and my shoes, and
told me that everyone had been referring to me as “Britannia, the Shoe Lady”. Ha ha, I like that (hence the title of today’s
blog). 😊

We enjoyed the cocktail party, partaking of several glasses
of the (free!) fizz and enjoying a few canapés. Then Captain Juha Sartela came onto the stage
and did another of his amusing speeches in his usual deadpan manner.

It then took us nicely to dinnertime, where it was quite sad
going into the Tintagel Restaurant for the “last supper”. We had another delicious meal and, once we’d
all finished, Trevor announced that the after-dinner liqueurs where on us, so everyone
had their tipple of choice and we all clinked glasses, as well as swapping
email and address details. Then we made
our way to the Neptune Lounge for the Farewell Variety Performance, which featured
all the entertainers we’d seen this cruise; singer Shaun Perry, magician Rick
Green, comedian Lloyd Davies and, of course, the fabulous Boudicca Show Company
and orchestra.

Then we went along to the Lido Lounge to take part in our
final quiz, along with Joe, Gary and Angela.
Once again, we didn’t win, but we still enjoyed great company along with
Fred’s all-inclusive drinks package. 😉
We returned to suite 7038 around 12.30am, but
didn’t sit out on the balcony because we still had our packing to finish, and
in any case it was still too windy. So
we packed everything up apart form toothbrushes and clothes we’d be travelling
home in, put our luggage outside our stateroom, then settled down for our last night
on the Boudicca, where we slept very
well.

When we woke up this morning and went out onto our balcony,
the sunshine was already bright and the day was hot, even at 8.00am. The Boudicca
was at anchor in the turquoise water, and we could see a small island in the
near distance.

There were no excursions scheduled today, because the island
of Utheemu was small enough to explore on foot.
Therefore, after enjoying our breakfast and walking around the deck for
a while, we went along to get a tender ticket, then awaited our call in the
Iceni Room.

Once our number was called, we descended to deck 2 and
embarked the liberty boat for the short ride across. The sun was very hot and I was glad I was
wearing my sunhat.

On arrival, there did not seem to be a great deal in the
immediate vicinity, so we walked along the wide, sandy track to explore. There were a lot of individual private
dwellings along the palm-fringed roads, and the only traffic seemed to be the
ubiquitous scooters or pushbikes; we didn’t see any cars at all.

We saw one or two shops, and a place selling ice-cream, but nothing
appeared to be open. Once again, no bars
or anywhere selling beer was in evidence.

As we walked along, we spotted a guy who had set up a makeshift stall selling green coconuts. I quite fancied drinking the thirst-quenching coconut water so we went over and asked how much it would be. He asked for 75 rufiyaa, which is nearly £4.00, for one coconut! We could buy them cheaper at home, so we told him it was too expensive and started to walk away. He was not prepared to negotiate, so he didn’t get our custom. Four pounds indeed!

After walking from one side of the island to the other, we
came out at a wide expanse of the most pristine and beautiful beach you could
imagine. The sand was white and powder soft,
and the water was in shades of turquoise and bright blue as the waves gently
lapped the shore. The beach was not
crowded, in fact the main thing you could see was space, so it was perfect.

We had been advised that there was a strict dress-code here;
no bikinis or brief swimsuits – swimmers were expected to cover up in shorts
and t-shirt on the beach. So we hadn’t
brought our cossies, which was unfortunate because the sea looked SO inviting.

Instead, I rolled up the legs of my cotton cargo pants as
far as they would go, and went up to my knees into the gorgeously-warm surf –
the sea temperature was 30˚C.

It was just so relaxing and idyllic to be in such a
beautiful part of the world, but it really was extremely hot (we learned
afterwards it was 34˚C, phew) so as the time edged nearer to noon, we wisely
sought refuge in the shade of the palm trees.
I was really thirsty by now, and we’d forgotten to bring a water bottle,
so after looking around in vain for somewhere to get a cold drink, we decided
to take a slow stroll back to the ship.

As we ambled along, we noticed that there were quite a lot
of unfinished buildings and a lot of building work going on; breeze-blocks and
timbers were piled everywhere. Utheemu
also looked as if it had a problem with discarded plastic bottles, as they were
all along the roadside. Whether or not
they were discarded by the locals or whether they’d been washed ashore (as was
the case with some other islands in the Maldives) was debatable, but there was
clearly an urgent need for some sort of plastic recycling plan.

So as far as the tiny island of Utheemu was concerned, it
was perfect for swimming, sunbathing or snorkelling, but there wasn’t a lot
else at all. We decided we’d spend the rest of the day back on the Boudicca.

While waiting for the liberty boat to return, there was
plenty of iced water and orange juice on offer, so we were able to quench our
thirst which was certainly welcome in the heat.

Back on board we went, as usual, to the Poolside Grill and
enjoyed a light meal, washed down with a nice big glass of freezing cold beer. We sat in the shade and watched those out by
the pool burn themselves to a lobster red; for some people it would have been
painful later on.

We spent the afternoon just lazing around and relaxing,
walking around the ship and watching some of the crew lowering and raising one
of the rescue boats, then getting up to speed on the sea. There is always something going on on the Boudicca, always something to see and
do.

Around 5.30pm we returned to our stateroom (suite!!) to get washed
and changed and ready for dinner. In the
meantime, the guy arrived with another selection of tasty canapés
then, at 6.15pm, we went along to the Tintagel Restaurant for yet another meal
and more wine, while listening to Mike and Ruth, John and Margaret tell us
their tales of what they’d been up to today.

Mike and Ruth had been out on one of the RIBs. These are Rigid Inflatable Boats and have
only recently been obtained by FOCL and carried on three of their ships. At certain anchor ports you can book a ride
on a RIB, which held 12 passengers. We
had wanted to go, but had been told the only time they were launching the RIBs
was when we were snorkelling yesterday.
However, as we saw the RIB out today that was not quite the case – if we’d
known, we could have booked it for today.
It did sound (and look) fun, although the RIBs go quite fast and bounced
along the waves, so I think your bum would have been sore afterwards! 😊

After dinner, we just did the ‘usual’. First of all, we joined in with the dancing
in the Neptune Lounge, when one lady came over to look at my shoes! Tonight, however, I was only wearing a silver
sparkly pair with a modest heel; there was nothing way-out about them. She asked me if I could wear my Playboy Bunny
shoes again, as she said she wanted to see me walk in them!

Tonight’s evening showtime was called “Dance Fever” and featured
the Boudicca Show Company performing high energy dancing in colourful costumes.
As ever, it was excellent, accompanied by the superb orchestra. We certainly cannot fault any of the
entertainment we’ve seen this cruise.

Then it was along to the Lido Lounge for the usual – Colin James
the pianist, dancing, the quiz (nope, we came nowhere near winning) and drinks
and cocktails, all in the lively company of Joe, Gary and Angela.
Finally, Trevor and I returned to the peace and
quiet of our balcony, and enjoyed our nightcap while reflecting on the
day. It was quite sad that our next port
of call, Colombo, would see us leave the Boudicca,
but for now we had a full day at sea to look forward to tomorrow, and we
determined to make the most of it.

Woke up this morning to find the Boudicca at anchor off Malé, the capital of the Maldives. We hadn’t been here before so we were excited
about the snorkelling trip we’d booked for this morning. We love snorkelling, and had done it
extensively on our incomparable cruise around the Galápagos Islands in October 2017.

Had a light breakfast in the Secret Garden before assembling
in the Neptune Lounge at nine o’clock as requested. However, we had quite a while to wait as,
apparently, the waters were a bit choppy so it was taking some time for our
boat to get here.

It was nearly 10.00am before our group was called to
disembark the Boudicca from the
pontoon, directly into the snorkelling boat.
I was wearing my tankini underneath my clothes with a pair of
quick-drying mesh shoes. We had already
provided our shoe sizes for our fins and, as the boat sped away to the first of
our snorkelling locations, we were issued with the fins and the lifejackets, as
well as tubes and masks.

We arrived at the first site and our boat dropped
anchor. Sure enough, the sea was quite
choppy and I hoped it wouldn’t make the snorkelling and swimming difficult, or
stir up the seabed so that the view was murky.

The fins I had on my feet were huge, and it was difficult to
walk to the side of the boat from which we were to jump into the water. Once in place, I secured my mask and tube and
launched myself the short drop into the sea.
The first problem I had was that my lifejacket, despite the straps being
pulled as tight as possible, was far too big, and it rode up around my ears almost
immediately. I was trying to swim with
one arm, the other arm holding the lifejacket down, the result of which was
that I was going round in circles. Also,
as I feared, the view through my mask was quite murky; I could see some fish
swimming around quite way below me, but I certainly didn’t enjoy the crystal
clear view of colourful fish and coral I’d seen on snorkelling trips in the past. ☹

I got so fed up with my HUGE lifejacket that Trevor and I decided to go ashore at a small beach we saw nearby. We swam towards it as the water became really shallow and the ground underfoot was stony and rocky, some of the small stones getting into my fins. As I tried to flap my way ashore, impeded by the fins, a large wave swept me over and I was pulled first one way over a jutting rock, then the other way, banging and scraping the back of my right thigh quite painfully. It’s such a shame, but I can’t say I was enjoying my snorkelling experience so far. ☹

One of the guys from the boat came over to see what the
matter was, and I showed him that my lifejacket was way too big. I don’t know how fat they thought I was, but
they’d issued Trevor with a jacket in a size “L”, and given me the size “XXXL”. What on earth…?!

I swapped my jacket with Trevor, and we pulled the straps as tight as they’d go. It made a huge difference; all of a sudden I could swim around without having to struggle to keep my lifejacket below my ears. By now it was time to return to the boat to go to our next snorkelling site.

Back on board, Trevor swapped the XXXL lifejacket for a more
appropriate size, and after about 10 minutes our boat dropped anchor once again
and we all jumped overboard.

What a difference!
Here, the water was beautifully clear and the shafts of sunlight shone and
rippled through the depths as we looked around at an amazing array of colourful
fish and corals, along with a massive starfish about a foot in diameter. Wow!
This was more like it. 😊

We spent about 40 minutes swimming and snorkelling and
marvelling at the beautiful underwater wonders.
It was then time to go back to the boat and, once aboard, we divested ourselves
of our fins and lifejackets and got dried off a little; I sat with my large
striped towel wrapped around myself and enjoyed some snacks of coconut, fruit
and dried tuna, washed down with fresh cold water.

Just before one o’clock we arrived back in Malé
at the place where the liberty boats dock.
We’d contemplated having a look ashore, but I didn’t want to walk around
in a tankini and towel in this predominantly-Muslim country, so we decided to
go back to the Boudicca and get
showered, dried and changed before we came ashore again.

Back on board I went into the bathroom to use the loo; when
I lowered the bottom half of my tankini, I couldn’t believe the amount of sand
it contained – there must have been a cupful!
It was also inside the top half and had managed to find its way into every
nook and cranny! I therefore decided to
have a bath instead of a shower, to ensure that I got all the sand off!

Later on, in fresh dry clothes, we enjoyed a light lunch at
the Poolside Grill before getting the liberty boat back across to the
town. We found that Malé
was quite a commercial, built-up area, very crowded and with more
scooters/motorcycles I had ever seen in my life! They were everywhere and, like a lot of
places in Asia, there seemed to be a distinctive lack of traffic rules.

The currency in the Maldives is the rufiyaa and we went to find an ATM so we could get some postcards
and go and have a beer while writing them out.

We found a little place selling postcards and fridge magnets
(a couple of which I bought as small souvenirs) but the lady didn’t sell the
stamps. She did, however, tell us where
to find the post office, so we went to get a cold drink.

One thing we did discover was that we couldn’t buy a beer
anywhere! There were plenty of coffee
shops and places selling soft drinks, but no bars or wine or beer! ☹

We therefore just went to the post office, wrote the card
out there, then bought a stamp and posted it.
Then we decided to go back to the Boudicca
and enjoy a freezing cold beer up on deck in the 32˚C heat.

We spent the afternoon pottering around the ship, sitting out
on our balcony and whiling away the time.
I was trying hard not to think about the fact that we only had another
three nights to spend on board the Boudicca
before flying home again on Thursday night.
☹

It was then time to start getting ready for dinner once
again, and we made our way to table #31 in the Tintagel Restaurant to enjoy the
usual delicious meal in convivial company.

Later on, in the Neptune Lounge, we got up and did some of
the ballroom dances we knew, that is, the cha cha, rumba, social foxtrot and,
on this occasion, the Gay Gordons. Then it
was time for the evening’s entertainment to begin.

Tonight it was the comedian Lloyd Davies once again, and he
had everyone rolling in the aisles with his daft humour and singing; he would
take a well-known song and put his own parodied words in. As ever, we really enjoyed the show. 😊

We finished the evening, as we do every night, doing the quiz in the Lido Lounge with Joe, Gary and Angela, and once again we didn’t win. Then we just listened to the music, watched the dancers and enjoyed a few drinks and cocktails, until we were pleasantly tired. Back on our balcony we sat out in the balmy night-time air with our feet up, lingering over a nightcap and sitting in a companionable silence, just enjoying the sounds of the sea as the Boudicca glided onward to our next destination. We had now visited a total of 88 countries. 😊

Got up at 8.00am and went out on the balcony to see what the
weather was like. It seemed a little breezier
this morning (but still very warm) and, while the sea was still calm, we
noticed more ripples on the surface and could feel a very slight motion from
the Boudicca.

We went down to the Tintagel Restaurant where there was some
more free fizz on offer, because tonight was formal night once again. I therefore enjoyed my usual cold meats,
smoked salmon and fresh fruits, washed down with a couple of glasses of the
free fizz to set me up for the day. 😊

We then went outside and did our usual five laps around the
decks, but we didn’t see any flying fish this time; maybe they’d sought refuge
in deeper waters as they noticed the sea was choppier too.

At 10 o’clock we went along to the Neptune Lounge for another
of Judge David Radford’s talks; this one was called “Celebrities in my
Courtroom” and covered the times when celebs, such as Pete Doherty, Tulisa and
Amy Winehouse had appeared in the court he was presiding over. It was quite interesting, but once again the
former judge’s delivery was quite hard-going.

Once the talk was over, we had half an hour to go and get ourselves
smartened up for the Oceans Club cocktail party at 11.15am. The Oceans Club is the FOCL loyalty programme
and there are five grades: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond
Elite. Trevor and I are currently Gold;
only those passengers with Silver membership or above are invited to the cocktail
party. You are awarded one point for every
one night spent on board a Fred ship, and Trevor and I will have 157 points
after this cruise. We need 250+ to go up
to Platinum level, so we have a few more cruises to do yet. 😊

We made our way to the Neptune Lounge and showed our Oceans
membership cards at the entrance.
Inside, we were met by the Captain and some of his senior officers, as
well as Melanie, the future cruises manager.
Oh… and of course there were waitresses walking around with trays of
gratis drinks and canapés, so we were offered more free drinks on Fred. 😊

After a brief speech in which Melanie outlined how many
members there were in each category, a lady sitting next to us was given an
award as a Diamond Elite – she had accumulated more than 700 nights on FOCL
ships so she must spend more days a year at sea than on land!

After the cocktail party finished at 12 o’clock, we were all
booted out of the Neptune Lounge so that rehearsals for tonight’s show could take
place. We therefore went along to the
Poolside Grill for our lunch, and we just enjoyed sitting out in the sun,
chatting with people and passing the time pleasantly, in that inimitable way
that you can only experience on a cruise.

Just before 2.00pm we went along to the Neptune Lounge to
take part in the dance class, which was covering the Queen of Hearts
Rumba. We were familiar with the rumba
from our lessons at home, but this was something else altogether, way too
advanced for us novices (and for most other people as well, judging by the
shambles on the dance floor!). So I
think we’d jumped the gun a bit there, and after several unsuccessful attempts
even to do the first part of the dance, we gave up and went out to the pool
deck, where a selection of ice creams was on offer. We therefore tried a different flavour; mine
was a delicious hazelnut ice cream.

We then went back to the Neptune Lounge where cruise
director Allan Tait was interviewing/chatting with comedian Lloyd Davies, who
was outlining his career for us since winning the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1987. As expected, it was a very entertaining
interlude and we looked forward to seeing Lloyd again later on in the cruise.

We then went back to the Lido Lounge (which is just along
from our suite) and enjoyed a couple of drinks before returning to 7038 and
getting showered and shampooed ready for this evening’s formal attire. I wore a
knee-length navy sequinned dress along with a beaded navy wrap which I teamed
with a pair of Irregular Choice shoes.

Now I am slightly obsessed with Irregular Choice shoes because they are so different and quirky. Don’t take my word for it, have a look at www.irregularchoice.com and you’ll see exactly what I mean. I don’t buy shoes to go with my outfits, I buy my outfits to go with my shoes. 😊

Tonight, I was wearing a pair of navy blue medium-heels,
covered in blue sequins to match my dress and featuring a big bow at the
front. But it wasn’t any ordinary bow,
as soon as you started dancing (or even walking on a hard floor) there were
fairy lights on the bow, which flashed and glittered. There is obviously a tiny battery secreted
inside the bow somewhere.

So, like my Gothic evening dresses, my Playboy Bunny shoes
and my Britannia costume, my Twinkle shoes (as they are called) attracted an
awful lot of attention, particularly after dinner when we went along to the
Neptune Lounge. But more about that
later…

At the dinner table we noticed that everyone’s place setting
included a champagne flute, and once John and Margaret, Mike and Ruth and
Trevor and I were all seated, Mike announced that we were having
champagne. Apparently it had been a year
since they’d lost their special, beloved dog Jaz, so we were all having a glass
of champagne to raise and toast Jaz’s memory. A touching little gesture.

We then enjoyed our meal as ever, then made our way to the
Neptune Lounge a little after eight o’clock.
There was no dancing tonight as it was a double bill, first of all featuring
singer Lindsay Cooper, then it was time for the Boudicca Crew Show.

We always enjoy the shows put on by the crew. They feature
songs and dances from their own countries, mainly the Philippines and Thailand,
and they choreograph the dances and make the costumes themselves (when do they
get the time?!) So it’s always a
colourful, happy, cheerful affair and nice for the hard-working crew members to
get a huge cheer and appreciation from the audience.

Afterwards we went to the Lido Lounge for the quiz. As I mentioned previously, my shoes got a lot
of attention, with people asking where I’d got them and trying them on. I could have been a salesperson on commission
for Irregular Choice, as people were writing down the website URL and looking
at and admiring other pairs of IC shoes I’d bought. When I got up to dance, everyone was looking
at my feet! I may not have been a
Twinkle Toes at the dance lesson earlier on, but I certainly was now! 😊

We took part in the quiz as usual, with Gary, Angela and
Joe, but needless to say we didn’t win.
Then we just enjoyed a few more cocktails, listening to the music and
whiled away the time until after midnight.
Then Trevor and I returned to our stateroom (suite!!)
to enjoy a nightcap on our balcony after another very full day. Tomorrow we were due to reach land again, and
we fell asleep lulled by the gentle motion of the Boudicca on the ocean waves.
😊

Ahh… it was another glorious day as we woke up this morning
around eight o’clock as usual. Going out onto our balcony, my eyes screwed up
against the brightness of the sun, we saw that once again the weather was
perfect, with fluffy white cumulous clouds above a blue, blue Indian Ocean. 😊

We went into the Secret Garden buffet for our breakfast, and
I enjoyed the usual array of cold meats and cheeses, followed by a Danish
pastry and a cup of coffee. Then we went
outside for a wander around, where once again we met Chief Officer Stefan
Ravneng, and we asked him if we’d crossed the Equator yet, as we were pretty
close yesterday. The Chief advised that
Captain Sartela would announce when we were crossing this legendary line at
latitude 00˚
00’.

Meanwhile, we attended a talk in the Neptune Lounge given by
botanist Tracy Foster, entitled “What Have Plants Done For Us?” It was very interesting, showing the role
that plants have played on our planet, the fact that they can kill us or cure
us, and how the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals keeps the
world going. Fascinating stuff.

Afterwards we went along to the Iceni Room to get a cup of
coffee, and we sat by the window enjoying the passing seascape. It was now 10.45am and we wanted to go to the
pool deck, to get a great vantage point for today’s highlight, the famous
Crossing the Line Ceremony.

It has long been a seafaring tradition for sailors to have
an initiation ceremony for anyone crossing the main lines of latitude and
longitude, namely the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, the Equator and the
International Date Line. Sailors who
have previously crossed the Equator on board ship and have been accepted as
King Neptune’s Trusty Shellbacks look down on those “disgusting Pollywogs”, that
is, those who have never crossed the Equator.
Trevor and I have crossed the Equator on board ship a number of times,
and already have certificates from three different ships, so this would be our
fourth. 😊

I got a great seat at the edge of the pool to await the
arrival of King Neptune and his Royal Entourage. They soon arrived along with some ‘mermaids’
and some ‘pirates’, and cruise director Allan Tait came along dressed in a
courtroom gown and wig to keep order over the proceedings. At King Neptune’s feet was an oval platter
containing a large wet fish.

First of all, Captain Sartela was called before King Neptune
and brought to trial for his “crimes” against his Kingdom the Deep. He was invariably found guilty and given the
choice of kissing the fish or taking an early bath. Before he had the chance to answer, the
pirates grabbed him and threw him into the swimming pool in all his clothes,
amidst much laughter and cheering from the crowd! 😊

Next it was the turn of the Chief Officer and he too was
subjected to the same fate. However, he
pulled one of the pirates into the pool with him, and the soaking wet Captain
came along, lifted another of the pirates and threw her into the pool too!

Thus the ceremony proceeded, and it ended up where all the
senior officers, as well as the entertainers, were all swimming around fully
clothed and splashing in the pool, full of good-natured fun and laughter.
Finally everyone else, including Allan Tait and Lloyd Davies the comedian were
all in the pool too, and King Neptune announced that we were all now Shellbacks
and the Boudicca could continue her
voyage into the Northern Hemisphere. 😊

It was a really great performance, and for the first-time
cruisers on Boudicca, (there were
quite a few of them) it would have been something quite special for them to
tell all their friends back home. 😊

While all this was going on, the bar staff were going round
with trays of complimentary rum punch, and we enjoyed a few beakers of the
chilled, fruity drink before it took us nicely up to lunchtime, which once
again we ate al fresco, sitting at a table at the Poolside Grill.

The afternoon passed in its usual pleasant way, and at
2.45pm we went along to the Neptune Lounge to listen to the second of Roger
Cook’s presentations, called “Terror in the Skies”, which was an investigation
into the appallingly lax security at some airports which contributed to the
disaster that was 9/11. I wasn’t sure if
it was such a good idea going and watching a presentation about aircraft being
hijacked or bombed, particularly as we had another 12-hour flight to endure at
the end of our voyage. ☹

However, the presentation was very interesting, if somewhat disturbing,
and we were reminded of what a great investigative journalist/reporter Roger
Cook was.

We then returned to our stateroom (suite!!) where I had a
drink, did some of this blog, then sat out on the balcony for a while, watching
the world go by. Then we just relaxed until
the guy arrived with the canapés and replenished our fruit bowl,
before it was time to get washed and changed for dinner.

Dinner was, as ever, delicious and plentiful with good service
in excellent company. We then went along
to the Neptune Lounge and took part in the ballroom dancing. While I was there, someone commented on my shoes,
which have a 5” Perspex heel in the shape of the Playboy Bunny, with a little
diamante eye. One guy asked if I was “Britannia”
and shook my hand – obviously my British Night outfit was still the talk of the
ship! 😊

The show tonight saw the return of Shaun Perry, the
instrumentalist and singer, and once again he performed some good songs. But later on it would be the passengers’ turn
to perform their best songs as it was Karaoke Night after the quiz.

In the Lido Lounge, we were joined again by Gary and Angela,
and this time Joe put in a reappearance, so we have five in our team. We narrowly hit the post though, as we scored
13/15 and had to take part, with two other teams, in the tie-breaker, which we
didn’t win.

At 10.45pm Don from the entertainments team came round with
the Karaoke books and slips of paper, and I put my name down to do You Know I’m No Good by Amy Winehouse. Quite a few singers got up, and the overall
standard was quite decent. Everyone who
got up to sing could pick a prize, and I got a little hand-bag mirror. I then decided to do another Amy Winehouse
number, this time Back to Black. I got a big cheer afterwards and my prize was
a Fred Olsen bottle opener. The Karaoke overran
a bit, and went on until after midnight.
We really enjoyed it.
Then it was back to suite 7038 with a nightcap, which
we enjoyed out on the balcony. It had
been a good day and we still had another sea day to look forward to tomorrow –
there is always so much to do on the good ship Boudicca. 😊

Today we had a packed programme of events to look forward
to, as we got up around 8.00am and went out onto our balcony to another warm
and sultry day. 😊

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the Tintagel Restaurant,
then went outside to take a stroll around the decks and breathe in the salt
air. Every now and again we paused, to
stand at the railing and look down at the sea; we saw the usual bursts of
silver streaks as the flying fish soared and skimmed atop the waves.

Looking further out to sea we thought we saw a dark shape
and, sure enough, we caught a glimpse of black fins – it appeared to be a
school of porpoises or dolphins; they certainly weren’t big enough to be
whales. We carried on walking around the
decks until we had completed the five laps, equal to one mile.

It was then time to make our way to the Neptune Lounge for
the first of today’s fascinating talks.
This one was called “Life as s Senior Criminal Court Judge” by His
Honour Judge Radford, a retired criminal judge who appeared in the BBC series Murder, Mystery and My Family. The presentation was interesting, apart from
the judge’s slow and deliberate speech which was quite soporific, and you could
understand why some jurors fall asleep during the judge’s summing up in court!

It took us nicely up to lunchtime, and we went along to the
Poolside Grill where I enjoyed a delicious salad Niçoise with a fresh tuna steak,
washed down with a cold pint of Stella. 😊

We then just sat out at the pool for a while, passing
pleasantries with our fellow passengers and enjoying watching the Boudicca gliding along in the sparkling
blue Indian Ocean, with no other vessels anywhere in sight.

At 1.45pm we returned to the Neptune Lounge to listen to a
talk called “Rich on the Run”, which was about the infamous “Costa del Crime”
in Spain. The speaker’s name was given
as Roger Cook, but it was only when the presentation started we realised it was
the Roger Cook, of ITV’s The Cook Report fame. The
Cook Report was a very well-known documentary series on TV in the 1980s and
1990s; in fact it ran for 12 years. The
programme featured Roger Cook travelling the world to investigate serious criminal
activity, injustice and official incompetence. But it is perhaps best
remembered for its ground-breaking undercover ‘stings’ and for Cook’s trademark
confrontations with his targets, during which he (and sometimes the film crew)
could suffer verbal and physical abuse.
The talk started with a video montage from clips from the show, showing
some of these (quite violent) confrontations.

The presentation was extremely interesting, and showed some
of the most obnoxious conmen and scammers of the day, and how they’d fled to
Spain to continue living the high life on their ill-gotten gains. One of them was the infamous John ‘Goldfinger’
Palmer, who was involved in the Brinks-Mat robbery as well as a multi-million
dollar timeshare scam in Tenerife. A thoroughly
nasty character, he got what was coming to him when he was murdered, at the age
of 64, by six gunshot wounds to the chest.

The talk overran by quite a lot and should have been
followed by the dance class, but we’d had enough of being below decks by now,
so we decided to go up to the Lido Deck and take advantage of Fred Olsen’s
inclusive drinks package. 😉

We then bought some raffle tickets in aid of the RNLI, which
is Fred’s chosen charity, in which a number of useful prizes were of offer. We didn’t win anything, but Ruth and Mike,
from table #31, got three of the prizes!

It was now getting on for five o’clock, so we returned to
our stateroom (suite!!) and pottered about for a bit before it was time to
start getting ready in our red, white and blue, for tonight was British
Night! I had been looking forward to
this night, as instead of just wearing a Union Jack jacket or t-shirt or
wearing something red, white and blue I was going the whole hog. They wanted British, so they were certainly
going to get British!

Yes! While Trevor
looked very smart in his Union Jack waistcoat and matching bow-tie, tonight was
my pièce
de résistance; I was dressing
as Britannia, and I’d brought all the necessary props with me, including long
white dress, a huge Union flag which I tied around my shoulders as a cape, a trident
and Union Jack shield, and a long dark wig complete with Roman helmet! When worn all together it looked fantastic,
and I was glad I’d made the effort to create the shield and get the other
props.

Predictably, while making our way to the restaurant, my
outfit attracted a lot of attention and a lot of comments as I passed regally
by, all the way to our table. Everyone on table #31 had made the effort; John
and Margaret wearing garments in red, white and blue and Mike also wearing a
waistcoat and bow-tie similar to Trevor’s, while Ruth wore a long Union Jack t-shirt
and top hat.

The dinner was British-themed, with traditional meals such
as bangers ‘n’ mash, steak and ale pie and chicken tikka masala, all washed
down with rosé wine and finished with liqueurs.

There was no dancing in the Neptune Lounge tonight as, instead,
they were holding the Great British Sing-Along.
As I proceeded along to the lounge, my shield on my arm and my trident
held aloft, people kept stopping me and asking for photographs, and other
groups of people applauded as I walked by.
If I wanted attention I was certainly getting it, but it surprised me
that no-one had ever dressed as Britannia before, as it seemed the most obvious
outfit to wear.

We managed to get seats right at the front, then the
entertainment team (including Daniel) came onto the stage and we were all given
song-sheets, then the band struck up and we all sang patriotic songs like There’ll Always Be An England and Land of Hope And Glory, to much flag-waving
and singing with gusto. It was
great! 😊

The performance tonight, by the Boudicca Show Company, was
called “Britain Rocks” and was described as ‘a journey through the decades of
the very best in British music from the 1960s to the present day’. It was a superb show, and finished with a
rousing Proms Finale. We enjoyed it
thoroughly.

The show company all posed outside the Neptune Lounge in
their British outfits for people to take photos of them. While I was waiting for Trevor to come out of
the Gents, there were as many people taking photos of me, and the show company
even started singing an impromptu rendition of Rule Britannia! On the way
to the Lido Lounge I couldn’t believe the number of people who came up to me,
congratulating me on my outfit or asking to have their photo taken with
me. We spotted Daniel on the way and got
someone to photograph me and Trevor with him, so I could email it to his mum
Julie (our dancing teacher).

Once again, we sat with Gary and Angela for the quiz, and
once again we didn’t win. We couldn’t
see Joe anywhere, so he’d obviously gone elsewhere for the evening.

After not winning the quiz, we remained in the Lido Lounge
for the music, although I didn’t get up and dance. To tell the truth, it was sweltering in the
wig and Roman helmet, but I was determined to remain as Britannia until we got
back to our cabin.
We stayed until about midnight, then got a final
drink to take back to our balcony.
Inside our cabin (suite!!) I thankfully removed my helmet and the long
wig, and allowed the warm sea breeze to caress my head, face and neck while I put
my feet up on the balcony railings and enjoyed the cold drink. There was no doubt about it – my Britannia
costume had been a resounding success, and I looked forward to wearing it on future
FOCL cruises. What a lovely day it had
been!